Disclaimer: I do not own BatB or "One Litre of Tears"
Author's Note: This fanfiction is LOOSELY based on the Japanese Drama "One Litre of Tears." There will be similar elements (like the main storyline) but there will be other things added that I wish would have happened in the J-Drama. If you like this fiction, then I suggest you watch "One Litre of Tears" at:
http (COLON) (SLASH) (SLASH) www*DOT*gooddrama*DOT*net/japanese-drama/1-litre-o f-tears
SYNOPSIS:
AU: During her first year of college, Catherine is diagnosed with a degenerating nervous disease known as Spinocerebellar Atrophy. Can she handle her disease on her own or will there be someone she can rely on as she faces the symptoms and the consequences of this disease? 100% VinCat FanFiction.
Note: It may be best to have a box of Kleenex near you at the end of every chapter.
One Litre of Tears
by: Keiko Fujiwara
Prologue:
Even Though I Cry...
"Are you sure you're all ready?" Dad asks as I finish packing the car.
"Yes, Dad." I smile as I walk up to him and give him a huge hug. "Thanks for helping me pack and I know you would love to see me off but I think it's best I go to Hudson University alone."
"Are you sure? I mean, I know it wasn't your top choice since your dream has always been to go to Princeton so are you sure you want to go alone?"
I nod. "I'll be fine. I promise. Remember, you still have to make sure Heather wakes up in time for her summer job. It starts at 10 AM and you know how lazy she can be."
"Alright sweetheart. I'm sorry your mother couldn't make it before you leave. Her plane doesn't arrive until this afternoon." I hear Dad say as I close the trunk of the car.
"Who says I wouldn't be able to make it?"
I turn around and see my mother standing next to the large oak tree in front of the house. Without thinking, I drop my purse and start running to her. It's been three months since I've seen her; she's been overseas for the past few months helping nurse soldiers back to good health. As I make my way towards her, my feet stagger a little, causing me to lose my footing.
"Easy there, Cat." My father laughs as he catches my arm before I could meet the ground's hard surface. "Don't get too excited or you'll break a leg."
"Sorry. I don't know what happened. I guess I'm just so surprised to see Mom." I reply while I carefully approach my mother and wrap my arms around her. "We thought you weren't going to be able to make it in time."
"I know." She smiles. "I purposely told your father my flight was later because I wanted to surprise you guys. I was hoping Heather would be awake but I'm sure she'll freak when she sees me making her breakfast."
"I'm glad you're home, Mom." I whisper and hug her tightly.
"Me too." She mumbles in my ear. "Now, if you don't get a move on, you're going to be late for Freshman Orientation."
"Right." I smile as I release her from my death grip. "I know Hudson University is only fifteen minutes away but I'll call you guys tonight once I'm settled in my dorm. Okay?"
"We'll be waiting." My father smiles. "Now go before you get in trouble on your first day of college."
"Gone." I laugh while getting into my car. "Tell Heather I plan on stealing her for the weekend. She seriously needs a day out since her breakup with Kevin."
"Will do!" Mom replies as both of my parents wave goodbye. I wave back before driving off into New York City to start my new life in college.
Beauty and the Beast
I finish unloading my things into my new room when I hear the door open from behind me. I turn around and a tall, beautiful woman walks in. "You must be Catherine Chandler. The name's Tess Vargas. I'm your roommate!"
"Hey. It's nice to meet you." I smile. "You can call me Cat."
"Sweet. Nice nickname." Tess replies.
"Thanks."
"Since you're new here, don't be afraid to ask questions. Okay? I'm a sophomore and know all of the ropes…well most of them anyways. Have you already checked in at the check-in site?"
"Already done. I pretty much have four hours of free time before freshman are required to gather in the Front Lawn for the Commencement Ceremony."
"That's legit. Hurry up with whatever you're doing because I'm going to give you a grand Tess Vargas tour of the campus! I'll introduce you to the right kinds of people and also tell you all of the dirty scoops on other students as well. If you stick with me, Cat, you'll do just fine." Tess laughs.
"I'm sure I will." First encounter with an upper classman and so far, so great! Looks like college life is looking up to me.
I follow Tess from the dorm room to the first building: the Library.
"As you could have guessed, this is Hudson University's finest library. It may contain a lot of old and dusty books but I've been able to find a few comics here and there." Tess grins. "I'm sure you can find things too. If there's nothing here to your tastes, you can always request books too but let's not worry about specifics right now because you look like you're starving and could use a good campus lunch to beef up your body a bit."
"Thanks…I think." I laugh as she grabs my hand and pulls me to the next spot on tour: the dining hall.
"Wow…there's a lot of choices." I mutter in awe.
"Yup. Food Galore." Tess states. "Want Subway? I'm buying."
"Sure." I've learned not to say no when someone offers to pay for something. The last time I told someone I did not want him to pay for me, it sent a lightning strike through his moral code and he flat out dumped me because of it. To avoid future 'raining on someone's parade,' I've decided to just kill my own principles instead and just suffer when someone pays something for me.
I tell the sandwich artist my exact order and Tess looks at me. "Dang girl! You sure do know your sandwiches!"
"I go to Subway a lot." I somewhat smile but my attention is directed elsewhere as I saw a handsome young man laughing his heart out as he is talking with friends.
"Yo Cat! Your order is ready." Tess states as she breaks me from my trance. For a brief moment, I'm sure he saw me too. Maybe I imagined it. I don't know.
"What? Huh? Oh. Right." I blush a little as I grab my plate before I follow Tess to a table.
"Vincent Keller." Tess whispers into my ear as she sits down next to me.
"Hm?"
"You were looking at Vincent Keller, a senior in the medical program. Don't deny it, Cat. I saw you red-handed." She smirks.
"Oh…well…he is rather good looking." I slightly grin.
"Not that I blame ya for staring at a hunkster but be careful. He's taken." Tess whispers as a red-headed woman wraps her arms around Vincent. "She's Alex Salter. Junior and also in the medical program."
"Darn." I mutter inaudibly. "I don't have time for boyfriends anyways. I'm not here to party. I'm here to study."
"You say that now but once you come to one campus party, you're conviction will change forever." Tess laughs. "Now, let's eat before our food runs away."
"Right." I smile before I pick up my sandwich and take a bite of it.
Just as we finished our lunch, Vincent and Alex walked by our table and if I weren't mistaken, I could have sworn his free hand grazed against the back of my arm. It was so slight that, again, I could have easily imagined it.
Tess brings me back to reality as she says, "You ready Cat? I still have to show you the rest of the campus before your commencement thing starts."
"Yeah…so what do we do with our plates?"
"We take them to that conveyer belt thing in the front of the dining hall." Tess replies.
"Okay." I scoot my chair back and then push it in before picking up my empty plate. As I start walking towards the conveyer belt, a dizzy spell washes over me and I have to lean against the pillar beside me in order to keep my balance.
"You okay?" Tess asks as she gives me a worried look.
"Yeah. I think I spun around too fast. Just give me a second." I smile.
"Alright. I'll be right back, Cat. I want to introduce you to my boyfriend. I just saw him down the hall."
"Do what you need to do. I'll be right here." I reply before she starts heading towards the hallway.
Thinking my dizzy spell is over; I gently push myself off of the column and started to slowly walk towards the conveyer belt. That was super weird. When I turn back around, I see Tess locking arms with a handsome black man as they made their way towards me.
"Told you, Tess. Good as new!" I smile and she sighs.
"That's a relief. I was worried for a moment. Don't scare me like that. I wouldn't want to be the one known as the Roommate who Cursed Her Roommate."
"Funny but I think you have nothing to worry about."
"Good." Tess replies. "Speaking of good, this is my boyfriend, Joseph Bishop. He and I are both going into law enforcement. He's a senior like Vincent."
"Nice to meet you, Joseph." I smile as I shake Joe's hand.
"Please call me Joe." He replies. "So you've met Vincent?"
"Not really…just noticed him in the dining hall." I answer.
"Yeah… noticed is not what I would have said, Cat." Tess snickers.
"Oh really?" Joe looks at Tess and gestures her to continue with her thought but I gave her a dirty look.
"Really but it's a secret between best roomies." Tess winks at Joe.
"Women and their secrets." Joe sighs. "No sense in trying to open that Pandora's Box. All Hell would break loose."
"And don't you know it!" Tess reminds him as she pops his bottom. "Don't stay here on my account, Joe. You have football practice and I don't want the coach to yell at me again for hogging you during the last practice."
"Alright. See you two lovely ladies later." Joe waves and jogs off down the hall.
"Now that it's just the two of us again, where shall we go to next? The bookstore?"
"Sure. Sounds great."
"Score! On to the bookstore then!" Tess exclaims as she grabs my hand and pulls me away from the dining hall. Tess sure is an interesting person.
Beauty and the Beast
It's been two days since the commencement ceremony and tomorrow is when our classes meet for the first time. I picked up my cell phone and dialed home. They should still be up around 11:30 PM right?
"Hello?"
Good. Mom picked up.
"Hey Mom." I smile, glad to hear her voice. Even though she's fifteen minutes away, I still can't help but feel homesick.
"Hey Catherine!" she beams through the phone.
"I'm sorry for not calling the last few nights. Orientation has been super busy and by the time I got back to my dorm, I was worn out."
"I figured that's what happened." She laughs. "Do you have any new friends?"
"Yeah. My roommate, Tess, is great! She's quite the ball of spirits if you ask me but she's fun to hang with. Right now she's on a date with her boyfriend's so I assume she won't be back until super late. Her boyfriend, Joe, is also a nice guy."
"Have you met anyone else yet?"
"A few but it's been such a long day, I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you their names." I laugh.
"That's quite alright, Sweetie. Thanks for calling and I'll be sure to let your father know you've called. Okay?"
"Thanks."
"You should get some sleep. If I remember correctly, you have an 8 AM class tomorrow."
"Yes…Choir. I'm quite excited for it!"
"Alright. Have fun! Call me tomorrow and let me know how well your classes are going."
"Will do, Mom. Bye." I reply.
"Bye Catherine. Have a great night!"
"You too." With that, I end the phone call with a click and place my phone on its charger. I guess Mom is right. I should probably get some sleep now.
Beauty and the Beast
"Rise and shine, sleepy head." Tess smiles as I lazily wake up from my slumber. "What time is it?"
"About 7:40 AM."
As I hear her tell me the time, I jump out of bed and pull out a random outfit before stripping out of my PJs and throwing on my day clothes.
"Woah! Slow down, Cat! What's wrong?"
"I can't believe I slept in!" I exclaimed. "I could have SWORN I set my alarm for 7 AM!"
"Chill Cat. You're not going to get anything done if you keep rushing like that! You'll fall and hurt yourself if you're not careful." Tess says and realizing she's right, I slow down my pace a little bit as I put on my shoes.
"I guess I'm lucky I took a shower last night." I say while I tie the laces of my shoes.
"Guess so." She smiles. I grab a nutrient bar, my backpack and my schedule before heading out the door. Great. First day of class and I'm going to be late to Choir!
Beauty and the Beast
Almost there! Just a little further!
I dash across the yard, not really paying any attention to my surroundings when I trip over my own two feet and knock about fifteen bicycles down. As if my day couldn't get any more worse!
"Hey! Watch where you're running next time! A bike stand almost impaled my leg because of you!" I hear a man angrily shout as I look up. I froze. Vincent Keller. Of course.
He starts putting the bikes back in place and I try to stand up and help him. I groan in pain, realizing a bike's pedal deeply skinned my leg, leaving a nasty gash on my knee. Ignoring my personal pain, I try to help him the best I can but the pain is too great.
"Don't bother." He says rather rudely. "I can tell you've hurt your leg. If you try and help as you hop around, you're just going to cause them to fall again."
"Sorry but you aren't the boss of me." I say with aggravation. "Thanks for putting the bikes back up and all but I gotta scram. I'm late for class and need to get there!"
"Quit whining." Vincent commands. "You're not going to make it to class on time on your own. You're going to have to get your leg inspected first and foremost."
"The leg can wait. Class cannot."
"No. It can't. The cut is deep and can get a bacterial infection. Believe me, I'm a medical student and it'll down my vibe if I let you go to class with a potentially infected knee. The least I can do to clear my conscious is to get you to the nurse. Now take off your backpack."
"Why?"
"Because it'll make carrying you easier."
"Fine." I reply as I shrug my backpack off. "There. You happy?"
"Sure." Vincent states as he slips my backpack onto his shoulders before picking me up in his arms. He then bends down to grab my schedule that fell out of my hand. I sigh, knowing there is no other way around this mess. Some things just can't be helped, can it?
"What's your name?" he asks me as he carefully walks me towards the nurse's station.
"Catherine…Catherine Chandler." I don't know why but for some reason, I don't tell him that most people call me Cat. I guess you could say a cat has my tongue.
"I'm Vincent Keller. You must be a freshman."
"What gave you that idea?" I ask, curious.
"One: I've never seen you before. Two: Only a freshman would be so clumsy and knock down an entire fleet of bikes."
"And I'm guessing you're a senior?"
"Really? No way!" he replies sarcastically. "What gave me away?"
"Oh. I don't know. Maybe it's your overly confident narcissistic attitude and your personal stereotypes about freshman." I say with just as much fire as he when he told me his reasons for me being a freshman.
"You're a feisty one, aren't you." He smirks.
"Maybe." I reply.
He kicks open the nurse's door and says, "She needs this wound cleaned and dressed ASAP."
The nurse nods and heads for a cabinet to grab some materials as Vincent puts me down on the patient's seat. Before he could make a grand escape, a professor walks in and says, "JT Forbes saw what happened, Vincent, and told me you were going to be late for class. Since we only went over the syllabus, the class was released early. I decided I would take liberty in handing you your syllabus personally. Please try to be on time for choir on Wednesday. Are we understood?"
"Yes." Vincent replies with venom in his tone. Sometime tells me he doesn't like choir class. Wait. Choir. Yes! Me! I'm in choir too! "Ummmm…sir?" I mutter softly.
"Yes Miss?"
"I think I'm in your choir class too." I say.
"Ahhh! You must be Miss Chandler!" he smiles. "I'm Dr. Andrews; director of the music program. Here is a copy of the syllabus for you too!"
"Thanks." I reply and hiss as the nurse cleans my wound with Hydrogen Peroxide.
"Because you hurt yourself on your way to class and Vincent was kind enough to help you out, I won't mark either of you two absent or tardy. Next time this happens, though, I might get suspicious and won't be so generous." Dr. Andrews replies.
"Thank you, sir, for your kindness." I say before he disappears into the hallway. Well that wasn't that bad, was it?
"All done." The nurse smiles. "Make sure you clean this wound daily with soap and water. I will give you some bandages and if you have any questions or need any more bandages, don't hesitate to stop by. Okay?"
"Thanks." I say as she gives me a bag of unused bandages. I hop off of the seat and pick up both my backpack and my schedule before stopping in front of Vincent. "Why're you still here?"
"Just making sure the nurse doesn't screw up her job." He smirks.
"Did she?" I ask as I raise my knee towards him.
"She did a fine job. I guess my wait is over then." Vincent replies. "If you can move your leg freely, it must not be too terrible of a gash."
"I'm a tough cookie." I say. "I can't stay down for too long."
"So I noticed earlier."
"Anyways, I mainly walked up here to thank you for your kindness…no matter how brash it may have seemed."
"Hey now. I'm a gentleman at heart. You just caught me at the wrong time. I was a little P.O.'ed earlier."
"Ahhhh…well now I know to stay away from you when you're pissed off." I laugh.
"Most people do." he smirks. "If anything, I should apologize for being so bitchy earlier. I shouldn't have taken my bad mood out on you."
"Don't worry about it. I wasn't Miss Perfect myself. I was running late and somewhat took my personal anger out on you." I state as we walk out of the nurse's station.
"Anyways, it was nice meeting you Catherine but I gotta fly. Class in ten." With that, he dashes away. Even if he's taken, he's still a pretty good looking guy…and nice too. Such a rare combination.
Beauty and the Beast
As the day went on, I saw Vincent on campus a few other times. We simply waved at each other as we passed one another. The only time he didn't wave to me was when Alex was walking with him. I could have sworn he was trying to push her away from him. Maybe they're not going out? Who knows?
As promised, I take out my phone and dial home.
"Hey Cat!" Heather answers.
"Hey sis. Mom or Dad around?"
"Mom is. Dad's working on a case at the firm but Mom just got home about five mins ago. Want to talk to her?"
"Yeah."
"Alright but before I give the phone to her, one thing; have you met any hot guys?"
I roll my eyes. I should have seen this coming. "Another day, Heath. Okay? I promise to tell you if anything exciting happens. Now, Mom please?"
"Oh fine. I'm holding you to that promise, Cat."
"I'm sure you will." I reply as I hear the phone shuffling and Heather say "It's Cat" to Mom.
"How was your first day of classes?"
"Horribly Awesome." I say with a smile.
"How so?"
"Well, I woke up about 20 minutes before class was supposed to start which put my day into a total train wreck. On my way to class, I fell down and knocked at least twenty bikes down and ended up hurting my knee."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes…A guy…Vincent…somewhat came to the rescue. He was a bit snarky at first but turned out to be a pretty decent guy. That's the GOOD part of my day. But I remembered that Tess said he was dating this chick named Alex so maybe it's a bad part? I don't know but it made me feel a little fluffy inside after our small conversation."
"Could it be that people think he's dating another girl when he's actually just a single guy?"
"I guess it's possible. I don't know…But the weird part of my day was when I was walking back to my dorm and another dizzy spell swept over me."
"Another dizzy spell?"
"Yeah…a few days ago, I felt dizzy for a few moments. I'm sure it's because I'm up late when I should be sleeping…Then again, I do have a tendency to skip a meal or so during the day." I reply.
"Hmmmm…Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"
"Why?"
"Well, you've said you fell today and I remember you almost lost your footing before you left home the other day. It could be dehydration and if it is, I think it'll be best for a doctor to see you and make sure it isn't something serious. Perhaps you're right, it could be nothing."
"Alright…I'll go since you asked just text me the time tomorrow and the where."
"I will…I'll even pick you up from school. Okay?"
"Okay. I gotta go. I have loads of homework to do."
"Alright. Have a good night and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sounds good. I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, Catherine."
With that, I hear the line click. I put my phone on its charger and yawn. Gosh. I better not sleep in tomorrow. After finishing my homework, I pulled out my diary and wrote:
Dear Diary, August 20, 2007
Weird things have been happening and I'm a little worried. Mom, a doctor, thinks I should go SEE a doctor. That's a little nerve-wracking if you ask me. But because she suggests it, I'm going to go because if it is something serious, I don't want to start my school year out being sick. It's better to know what's going on immediately.
Sincerely,
Catherine
After writing, I place my diary back in its proper drawer before slipping into bed. As I lay on my bed, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Am I really sick? Am I just tired from exhaustion? Is it because I eat on a weird schedule? Whatever it is, I'm scared because what if it IS something serious. I couldn't help but silently cry, wondering whether or not I'm really okay.
Beauty and the Beast
"Since Mom has suggested I should go to a hospital, I've been wondering if there really is something wrong with me.
Is it because my athletic ability is so poor?
Is it because I stay up late?
Is it because I eat irregularly?
I couldn't help crying as I was asking myself those questions. I cried so much, my eyes hurt."
~Aya Kitou (entry date: 1977-1978)
Beauty and the Beast
Keiko Fujiwara:
Well? Did you like the prologue? Do you want more?
NOTE: No Beast in this story.
Review! :)